Where can I find the Philosopher's Stone? What is the philosopher's stone? The worthless work of alchemists.

Philosopher's Stone, what is it?

Introduction

“The philosopher’s stone is simply a strong concentration of vital energy in a small amount of matter” - this, in my opinion, is a very accurate phrase that explains the essence of the philosopher’s stone. According to alchemists, the processes that occur in plants and animals are identical to the processes in inanimate objects (in metals, for example). The difficulty in creating this substance lies in the fact that you need to create a “life catalyst”, that is: it must contain a certain amount of “living” energy. Moreover, it must be stored to perform the functions of the stone. There are different ideas about stone.

Let me give you some of them:

The stone is a combination of all elements (occult, not physical), that is, the philosopher's stone is the likeness of God, who gives life.

Stone is a battery that the right situation can give its energy, for example, to heal diseases.

The stone is a purifier designed to cleanse from “dead energy”.

But there is still debate on this issue. The version that is closer to me is that the philosopher's stone is an abstract concept. It means... wisdom. After all, wisdom can give both eternal life and wealth.

What are its functions?

1) It turns molten mercury or lead onto which it is poured (Calenced in wax or wrapped in paper) into gold. According to some sources, he also turned copper, silver, and other metals into gold. Alchemists believed (or still believe) that all metals originate in the depths of the Earth from the mixing of sulfur with silver. Moreover, in the process of growth the metal deteriorates; and what normally “ripens” we call gold. Aristotle, for example, called lead leper gold. So, the philosopher’s stone must heal or purify “diseased” metals, after such treatment they will turn into “healthy” metal - gold. Let me quote from the book “Principles of Alchemy” by Philaret:

Do not listen to those who tell you that our Gold is not ordinary Gold, but physical Gold: it is true that ordinary Gold is dead, but we prepare it in such a way that it comes to life again, just as a dead grain comes to life in the ground. After six weeks, the Gold, which was dead, becomes alive and fruitful in our action, for it was placed in soil suitable for it, by which I mean our composition. So we may justly call it our Gold, for we have united it with the agent destined to give it life; After all, there are cases of the opposite kind, when a person condemned to death is called a dead man, because he will soon die, although he is still living. (With)

2) Taken orally, it serves as an excellent blood purifier, healing quickly various diseases, as well as improving the body and imparting some spiritual qualities. Here the mechanism of work is not precisely discussed by the alchemists; each one says his own: then he absorbs negative energy, then saturates with vital energy, then turns the body into a piece of divine essence, then “freezes” all processes in the body, here there is the same uncertainty as in precise definition philosopher's stone.

I would like to note that the Great Adepts (the so-called initiates of the Great Act, in other words, alchemy) attached greater importance to the 2nd property of the philosopher's stone, while greedy, ignorant scammers (the so-called prompters) pursued only one goal - obtaining artificial gold .

Which alchemist was looking for the philosopher's stone?

The answer is simple - everything. The British monk Roger Bacon in his book “Mirror of Alchemy” (“Miroire d’Alquimie”) writes about this quite clearly: “Alchemy is the science of making a certain substance, or elixir, which, acting on imperfect metals, transfers its perfection to them at the moment of influence " Although the following quotation from Grillot de Givry’s book “A Collection of Sorcerers, Enchanters and Alchemists” (“Le Musee des Sorciers, Mages et Alchimistes”) refutes the British’s words: “Many of those who have never studied alchemy,” he writes, “believe it a heap of empty dreams and fabrications reflecting the vain desire to obtain artificial gold, a desire generated either by banal greed or by an insane desire to become equal to the Creator. At the same time, people who seriously study alchemy very soon discover behind this side goal a special and completely indescribable charm: in the gloomy labyrinth of medieval learning, only it, alchemy, shines as brightly as the giant, silent and motionless stained glass rosettes, which, rising above the vulgarity of everyday life, flood the majestic space of sleeping cathedrals with inexpressible light.” But there is no doubt that many came to alchemy following dreams of the philosopher's stone. Next, I'm going to give examples of various alchemists: truly great sages and literally crazy scammers.

Gilles de Rais - served in the army under the command of Joan of Arc. For his experiments he used human blood, including the blood of infants. He was executed.

Johann von Richthausen is a court alchemist who promised to make a "philosopher's stone". In the presence of the emperor, he “transformed” mercury into gold, causing delight among the courtiers, but then it turned out that the alchemist had previously dissolved gold in mercury and, adding a pinch of “stone” ground into powder, evaporated the mercury by heating. What happened to Richthausen next, history is silent...

Wenzel Seiler, also a court alchemist, with the help of the “philosopher’s stone”, a mysterious red powder, turned zinc into gold, from which ducats were minted - Venetian gold coins that were in circulation throughout Europe. On one side of the ducats there was allegedly an inscription: “By the power of Wenzel Sailer’s powder, I became gold from zinc. 1675." However, not a single such coin has survived to this day. Impressed by the successful acquisition of gold, the emperor even elevated Sailer to the nobility. But later his secret was discovered - the stick with which the scammer mixed boiling mercury was hollow at the bottom, gold powder was hidden in it, and Sailer sealed the hole with wax. The lower part of the stick - material evidence of deception - was burned. The coals that Seiler threw into the crucible were also probably hollow, and some gold powder was hidden inside them. And wax and soot were an excellent camouflage. Gold powder quickly dissolves in mercury to form a liquid mercury-precious metal alloy (amalgam), which can contain up to 10% gold. When the mercury was heated to a boil, it evaporated, leaving only pure gold in the crucible. Mercury oxide HgO, which, when high temperature completely decomposes into mercury (which also evaporates) and oxygen. But it was discovered after his death.

Otto von Paikule - Swedish general, false alchemist. In the presence of the king, he received gold by influencing the specified mixture with the powder of the “philosopher’s stone”. His experiment lasted 140 days, and at night he took the mixture “to rest” to his home, where, apparently, he mixed gold powder into it. Paikul failed to avoid the death penalty...

The most famous alchemist who claimed the possibility of obtaining a mysterious substance that would allow a person to live for a long time, almost forever, was Jabir ibn Hayyan (721-815) from Baghdad. In Europe he was known for many centuries under the name Geber. His name is covered in legends. In Baghdad, Jabir created a scientific school, just as Aristotle created the Lyceum, and Plato created the Academy. Jabir left one of the recipes for longevity. “You just need,” he wrote, “to find a toad that has lived ten thousand years, then catch bat thousand years old, dry them, crush and grind them into powder, dissolve it in water and take a tablespoon every day.”

It is clear that Jabir put his own irony into the description of the recipe, emphasizing its unreality. But he, like other alchemists, firmly believed that metals are formed in the earth from sulfur and mercury under the influence of the planets.

In Russia, the “elixir of longevity” was obtained by Peter I’s comrade-in-arms, Yakov Bruce (1670-1735), who had a laboratory in Moscow on the Sukharev Tower. For illiterate Muscovites, Bruce was known as a warlock, and they walked around the Sukharev Tower a mile away. According to one of the legends that circulated in Moscow at that time, Bruce received “living” and “dead” water and bequeathed to his servant to revive himself after death.

Chinese alchemist Wei Po-yang, who lived in the second century AD, prepared immortality pills (in Chinese “hu-sha” and “tang-sha”) from mercury sulfide HgS. The legend says that Wei Po-yang took these pills himself and gave them to his students and his beloved dog. They all died, but then allegedly resurrected and lived forever. However, for some reason no one followed his example =)

In the Middle Ages, somewhere around 1600, the legendary alchemist monk Basil Valentine, a famous adept, decided to achieve longevity for the monks of his monastery of the Benedictine order. He began to “cleanse their body of harmful elements” by adding antimony oxide Sb2O3 pills to their food. Some monks died in agony from such “purification.” This is where the second name for antimony comes from - “antimonium”, which means “anti-monastic”.

In 1270, the Italian alchemist Cardinal Giovanni Fadanzi, known as Bonaventura, while selecting liquid mixtures to obtain a universal solvent, merged concentrated hydrochloric and nitric acids together and tested the effect of this mixture on gold powder. The gold disappeared before his eyes... Bonaventure abandoned alchemical experiments and began preparing medicines...

A small digression. In parallel with the search for the philosopher's stone itself, alchemists were looking for a certain solvent (the so-called “universal solvent”) that would allow the substance of the philosopher’s stone to be isolated from natural or artificial chemical elements.

Another alchemist was Hermes the Thrice-Great, he is considered to be the founder of alchemy, it seems that he left a recipe for the stone in his tomb, but so far there is no evidence that anyone was able to decipher it.

Also looking for the stone: Siliani, Fulcanelli, Armand Barbeau.

As can be seen even from this modest list of stone seekers, these searches attracted many people, but did anyone manage to find that treasured divine element?

Who found the philosopher's stone?

But this is truly a difficult question. I dare to suggest that a substance with similar properties was found, but, naturally, this discovery was not made public. But scientists have discovered a way to turn mercury into gold: “In vanishingly small quantities, gold can be obtained from mercury in nuclear reactors. For example, from radioactive isotope mercury-197 in a nuclear reaction, when, as a result of the capture of an electron from the electron shell of a mercury atom by the nucleus (the so-called K-capture), one of the protons of the nucleus of the mercury atom turns into a neutron with the emission of a photon.” But this is not like that romantic image of the philosopher’s stone, which has been hunted for centuries by adventurers and scientists from all over the world?

Although there are many stories about people with whom certain adherents of the Acts “shared” the philosopher’s stone. I’ll give you some of them, but believe it or not – it’s up to you to decide.

In a private collection of unpublished manuscripts, Bernard Husson found a message about one extraordinary event that occurred at the beginning of the 17th century in the environment of the state councilor Saint-Clair Turgot. It's about about a doctor's memoirs not intended for publication? and alchemy is not mentioned anywhere else in them, which is why they are of particular interest to us.

The adviser was in a relationship with an unmarried lady, whom he received every day in his house. Trying to maintain decency, she went into the city, accompanied by the old groom, Master Arno; he was waiting for her at a nearby pharmacist, with whom he eventually became friends. This pharmacist, who devoted more than twenty years to the creation of the philosopher's stone, once met Master Arno with a joyful cry:

Finally I found it! Found it!

What did you find?

Stone, Arno.. Elixir! Look,” he exclaimed, shaking some kind of bottle, “here is the solution of life.” Let's drink it immediately old friend, at our age we more than need this.

With these words, the pharmacist poured a full spoonful of the elixir for himself and Arno. Having swallowed the liquid, he invited Arno to do the same, but the old stableman, out of caution, only wet his lips and tongue. He was brought out of his difficulty by a footman sent by the lady, who said that their mistress had already left the adviser's house and he should accompany her. Arno gave the spoon with the elixir to the pharmacist and left as quickly as his decrepit legs would allow.

However, on the way home, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, which was replaced by intense heat. The lady, fearing for the life of her faithful servant, sent one of the footmen to fetch the pharmacist, who, as she knew, was on friendly terms with Arno. The footman returned alone: ​​the pharmacist suddenly died!

The stable boy recovered from his illness quite quickly, but lost his hair, nails and even teeth. Saint-Clair Turgot, having learned about this strange incident, decided to talk to him personally. After this conversation, he offered 100 thousand livres for a bottle of elixir, but the pharmacist’s heirs could not find it, because many completely identical vessels were found in the shop without any inscriptions on them.

Many years later, a doctor who entered the house of Saint-Clair Turgot described this extraordinary event in his memoirs. In conclusion, he added that Arno’s hair, nails and teeth had grown again, and at the time of writing his memoirs, the old stableman felt excellent, despite his one hundred and twenty-three years...

Here's another story about a prompter, but he got hold of the philosopher's stone:

Edward Kelly performed a series of public transmutations that stunned the entire city. He immediately became an idol of high society, he was vying with each other to be invited to receptions held in his honor, and he made projections in front of everyone, and then distributed the resulting gold and silver to those present. He performed one of these transmutations in the house of the imperial physician Tadeusz Hayek. With just one grain of powder he turned a pound of mercury into pure gold. I will quote here the words of Louis Figuier: “It is impossible to doubt the veracity of this story, told by serious writers and confirmed by many eyewitnesses, in particular by the doctor Nikolai Barnau, who then lived in Hayek’s house and himself created gold with the help of Kelly. The piece of metal obtained as a result of this experiment was preserved by Hayek’s heirs, who showed it to everyone.”

I agree with the opinion expressed by Sadoul J.: “... isn’t the fairy tale about the transformation of metal into gold something like dust that is thrown into the eyes of the uninitiated in order to discourage them from understanding the true secrets of alchemy?” Only by delving a little deeper into alchemy, not for the sake of profit, can one see that in the alchemical theory (or as they are also called “alchemical principles”) there is something more than the creation of gold...

P.S. Having studied the topic of the “philosopher’s stone” in more depth, I came to the conclusion that it exists, and it is a very specific substance.

Sources

Sadoul J. Treasure of the Alchemists
Wikipedia
Alchemist website
Small Bay website
Website Mythological Encyclopedia

The philosopher's stone is a special mythical substance. His power is credited with both obtaining eternal life and creating gold with simple materials. U different nations this stone has different story, and there is not one scientific fact completely refuting or reliably confirming the existence of this mystical component.

What is the philosopher's stone?

The ancient legend about the philosopher's stone has always excited the minds of scientists and mere mortals. According to legends and traditions, this mysterious material has incredible properties. IN different times Various scientists sought confirmation that the philosopher's stone actually exists. It has many names and different sources call it differently. So, it can be called:

• rebis;
• the philosophical elixir of the sages;
• elixir of eternity;
• red-colored tincture;
• fifth element of nature.

A variety of powers and capabilities have been attributed to him, but all legends have one thing in common: the philosopher's stone is a reagent with a special property - with its help, metal can be turned into gold. Ancient manuscripts say that this substance appeared as a result of an incorrect reaction between sulfur and mercury. If you give a mystical stone a chemical definition, then it is a defective, incomplete, erroneous reaction between two simple components. No one knows what caused such a strange mistake.

Philosopher's Stone - properties

Even the Gods can envy the popularity of this substance in ancient mythology. He owns all the main mythical miracles for man, the philosopher’s stone:

• gives immortality (eternity of existence);
• allows you to create precious metal(to receive wealth);
• endows a person with incredible power (bestows glory on his creator);
• reveals the secrets of the world (grants its owner the great wisdom of the ancestors).

Alchemist Nicholas Flamel is the same scientist who has been searching for the philosopher's stone all his life. He mentioned in his writings that angels appeared to him in a dream and told him how to create this substance, but the dream was unexpectedly interrupted, and the scientist never recognized the last component, which provokes an erroneous reaction between all components. He and his wife believed so much that the philosopher's stone existed that they spent their entire lives, youth, maturity and old age in search of that missing component that would give them the opportunity to create the Stone of Immortality.

What is the philosopher's stone made of?

Various sources provide information about what makes the philosopher's stone so special. What is known for sure is that it necessarily contains three main components:

• philosophical brimstone;
• philosophical mercury;
• silver solution.

All experiments, one after another, suffered a colossal failure. The experimental substances created did not have the power to transform iron into a precious metal, they did not have the power to grant healing to the sick or youth to the old. At one point in the historical past, the philosophers' stone caused many painful deaths. Kings different countries In pursuit of the creation of this stone, they conducted experiments on living people, subjecting them to poisoning with various kinds of elixirs, to which court scientists attributed the properties of rebis.

Does the philosopher's stone really exist?

It is difficult to unambiguously answer the question whether the philosopher’s stone exists in reality, whether anyone has managed to recreate the elixir of wealth and eternal youth in one bottle. There is no historical evidence that any scientist who was looking for the philosopher's stone achieved his goal, and legends and epics are difficult to take seriously, so the creation of the rebis is another mystery of the old world that modern scientists and historians have not been able to solve.

Why did alchemists try to find the philosopher's stone?

Much has been said that the creation of the stone came down to the thirst for profit and dreams of immortality, but what is the philosopher's stone in alchemy? For alchemists obsessed with their work, the creation of such a stone was not a desire for profit. Scientists pursued one goal - to give the world a substance with characteristics ideally useful to humanity. Receiving a rebis is tantamount to approaching the greatness of the Gods, comprehending all the secrets of the creation of the world as we do not know it, and opening the door to the eternity of existence, eradicating death and old age.

Where is the philosopher's stone?

Many historical sources, while claiming that the rebis was created, do not indicate where to find the philosopher's stone. If we take as initial information the fact that the philosopher's stone was created, it is destined to become a great achievement or great historical value, and this will mean that such a find could not have been lost. If there is no official data that the rebis was created, we will dwell on the fact that, after all, the mystery of the mystical philosopher's stone (the fifth element of nature) has not been solved to this day and is unlikely to be solved in the future.

The Philosopher's Stone and the principles of alchemy
What was the theoretical basis of alchemical experiments? The entire alchemical system was based on two theories: the theory of the structure of metals and the theory of the generation of metals. Metals, according to alchemists, consisted of various substances, and each of them necessarily contained sulfur and mercury. Combining in various proportions, these substances formed gold, silver, copper, etc. It was assumed that in gold the proportion of mercury is large and the proportion of sulfur is small; in copper, for example, both of these ingredients were contained in approximately equal quantities. Tin was an imperfect mixture of a small amount of "contaminated" mercury and a large proportion of sulfur, and so on.
All these conclusions were outlined in the 8th century by the Arab alchemist Geber. He also stated that, according to ancient adepts, through certain operations it is possible to change the composition of metals and thereby transform one metal into another. This theory of the generation of metals was formulated quite clearly in medieval alchemical treatises. The process occurring in the alchemical vessel was likened to the process of generating animals and plants. Thus, in order to produce this or that metal, it was necessary to acquire its seed.

There was no such thing as an inorganic substance for an adept of alchemy: from his point of view, every substance was alive. The life of substances was under the secret influence of the stars - silent masters, slowly leading metals to perfection. The imperfect substance is gradually transformed and eventually becomes gold. Some Hermeticists who managed to comprehend the symbol of the snake biting its tail argued that nature works non-stop and that the ideal substance undergoes new transformations, returning to the state of base metal. The cycle of change repeats itself forever.

However, all these were just hypotheses, and to confirm them it was necessary to carry out a successful transmutation. Beginning in the 12th century, alchemists began to argue that some kind of reagent agent was necessary for transmutation. This agent was called variously: philosopher's stone, philosopher's powder, great elixir, quintessence, etc. In contact with liquid metals, the philosopher's stone was supposed to turn them into gold. Descriptions of this miraculous substance vary among different authors. Paracelsus characterizes it as hard and dark red; Berigard of Pisa says that it is painted poppy; Raymond Lull compares its color to the color of a carbuncle; Helvetius claims that he held it in his hands and that it was bright yellow. All these contradictions are reconciled by the Arab alchemist Khalid (or rather, the author who wrote under such a pseudonym): “This stone unites all colors. It is white, red, yellow, sky blue and green.” Thus an agreement was reached between all philosophers.

Legends... In all this folklore, most often there is a deep meaning that our ancestors wanted to convey to us. Sometimes the spiritual meaning is difficult to see in a story from the past. The stories about the philosopher's stone are so implausible, contradictory and unscientific that it is difficult to see even a grain of truth in them. However, there is factual information about people, scientists and philosophers who took them seriously.

Source of Spiritual Wisdom

According to medieval alchemists, the notorious philosopher's stone was created from fire and water, elements so incompatible that their combination cannot be explained except by the divine. It consisted of a mineral that contained a living principle and possessed a spiritual one. It was believed that the philosopher's stone had the property of turning any metal into gold. The eternal dream of humanity! Naturally, everything that was connected with the process of making stone was a mystery, shrouded in darkness.

Even more tempting was the possible spiritual change, even perfect, that was given to its owner. It was believed that the very initial attempts to obtain this mystical object related to human consciousness, the ability to purify the human soul, obtain, and immortality as the quintessence of the whole process.

Search for the philosopher's stone. History of exploration

The concept of the philosopher's stone was introduced into use by a native of Egypt, Hermes Trismegistus. He was an extraordinary person and, according to legend, was the son of the most important gods of Egypt, Osiris and Isis. He was sometimes considered an incarnation of the ancient Egyptian god Thoth. Most of the works of Hermes Trismegistus were destroyed in the fire of the Library of Alexandria. Those that were saved were buried in a secret place, and information about it was lost. Distorted translations have survived to this day, from which, with a certain degree of probability, one can judge the activities of Hermes. Judging by them, he was engaged in the creation of the philosopher's stone, studying substances that could give a person endless knowledge, youth and eternal life. A document containing a recipe for its manufacture was found and translated. Very poetic and figurative, and most importantly - incomprehensible. So each alchemist did it differently.

There is a well-known legend about King Midas of Phrygia. Even as a child, Midas received a sign of future wealth. One day, the god Dionysus led his army to India. Midas mixed wine into the water of the spring from which Dionysus' teacher Silenus drank. He was unable to continue his journey and ended up with Midas in the palace. Ten days later, Midas returned the teacher to Dionysus, and as a reward received the ability to turn everything he touched into gold. But everything really turned into gold, both water and food. Then, at the instigation of Dionysus, Midas bathed in the river, which became gold-bearing, but he himself lost the gift. In fact, from historical sources it is known about the fabulous wealth of King Midas, but this is unlikely to be connected with the stone, it’s just that all the gold deposits of Phrygia were in the possession of Midas.

Alchemists surrounded the search for the philosopher's stone and all related activities with mystery and mysticism. Only initiates could participate in it. All knowledge was transmitted orally and was accompanied by a special ritual. Follow-up was strictly observed in the experiments. Some things were still recorded. But those alchemist manuscripts that have come down to us often look like gobbledygook and are difficult to decipher. Those that were deciphered are completely understandable chemical experiments. For example, a description of the production of lead oxide. And many more useful things were discovered by experimenters in their quest to obtain the philosopher's stone. They obtained both new substances (gunpowder, saltpeter, important salts and acids) and described their properties and processes. True, they did this in a very vague form. We can say that medieval alchemists, in search of the philosopher's stone, laid the foundation of chemistry, which provides means to heal diseases, influence productivity, and extend life, not yet indefinitely.

In the minds of alchemists, there was no significant difference between living and nonliving nature. Gold was no exception. It was the result of the growth and maturation of metal in the depths. At the same time, iron was considered an unripe metal, copper - the result of spoiled sulfur entering its composition, and so on. Unfortunately, the processes in nature proceeded very slowly and alchemists thought that the philosopher’s stone would help speed up the processes of “ripening” and “healing” of metals.

There was another belief: by changing the content of the two main components of any metal - mercury and sulfur - it is possible to transform some metals into others. In their fantastic search, the alchemists achieved absolutely real results. The first apparatuses were invented for the distillation of liquids, the recrystallization of salts and the sublimation of solids.

In the Middle Ages, the search for the philosopher's stone came down to its ability to turn everything into gold. Poverty, apparently, was the most important scourge of that time. However, the presence of a huge amount of high-quality gold in some historical figures, for example, King Edward, Emperor Rudolf, is inexplicable by any historical facts. Perhaps, after all, someone managed to find methods other than mining?

Fiction or truth?

The answers will again have to be sought in history. King Edward ordered 60,000 pounds of gold from the Spaniard Raymond Lull for minting coins. Provided him with mercury, tin and lead. And what about Lull? He did get gold. Both its quantity and quality were impressive, since those nobles were used in major transactions and are still kept in museums. It seems incredible! However, perhaps there was a typo in the documents, and there were far fewer zeros?

Why is the stone “philosophical”?

So, what does philosophy have to do with it? And this is what it turned out to be. For any self-respecting alchemist, gold immediately turned from a goal into a means. The goal of their entire gold-mining fever was “merely” universal prosperity, the improvement of the entire Cosmos. The true goal of the alchemists was simple to the point of disgrace - they sought to improve, “heal” imperfect metals, and then the world order. It is not for nothing that alchemists were often called doctors.

By the way, the philosophical and medical side of alchemy is present in the legends of not only the West, but also the East. For example, Chinese alchemists knew the secret of the “golden pill of immortality.” And although it was in some way an analogue of the philosopher's stone, this panacea was smelted directly in the human body. And the goal of introducing a “foreign organism” was the complete spiritualization of man (theological aspect) and the acquisition of immortality (a philosophical question).

Literature different eras reflects the exciting search for the philosopher's stone. Thus, Faust’s father, in the words of the great Goethe, prepared a cure for the plague:

"The alchemy of those days is a forgotten pillar,

He locked himself in a closet with his faithful

And with them there he distilled from flasks

Compounds of all kinds of rubbish.[...]

People were treated with this amalgam,

Without checking whether he was cured,

Who turned to our balm."

“Hardly anyone survived,” recalls Faust with a bitter smile. Alchemists did a lot of chemistry with potions, and their experiments on people were not always successful. The story of the polymath writer Jorge Luis Borges deserves special attention. It tells about an instructive conversation between the alchemist Paracelsus and a certain young man who came to ask to become his student. Paracelsus said that if a young man flatters himself with the hope of creating gold, then they are not on the right path. But the young man replied that it was not gold that attracted him, but Science. He wanted to walk the path to the Stone with his teacher. And this is what Paracelsus answered him: “The Path is the Stone. The place where you are coming from is the Stone. If you don’t understand these words, then you don’t understand anything yet.”

It seems that many of us, having read these words, will be convinced that the philosopher’s stone will never be given to them. The search for the philosopher's stone awakens scientific thought; it was not in vain that the alchemists repeated: “Transform yourself from dead stones into living philosopher’s stones!”

But the stone is not easy to get. Mephistopheles himself left a warning:

“They don’t understand how small children

That happiness does not fly into your mouth.

I would give them the philosopher's stone -

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Fairy tales, myths, legends... In all this folklore, most often there is a deep meaning that our ancestors wanted to convey to us. Sometimes the spiritual meaning is difficult to see in a story from the past. The stories about the philosopher's stone are so implausible, contradictory and unscientific that it is difficult to see even a grain of truth in them. However, there is factual information about people, scientists and philosophers...

From the Middle Ages until the end of the 17th century, the so-called philosopher's stone was the cherished goal of alchemists - scientists who created the knowledge base for modern chemistry.

What is the "philosopher's stone"?

According to legend, the philosopher's stone was a substance capable of transforming base metals such as copper, zinc, tin and iron into precious metals such as gold and silver. In addition, with the help of the philosopher's stone it was possible to obtain an elixir of eternal youth, which could cure any disease, restore lost youth and even grant immortality to its lucky owner.

Alchemists only in the very formation of their “science” considered the philosopher’s stone to be a stone; further searches characterized it as both a powder and an elixir. During the High Renaissance, it was customary to call the philosopher's stone “primary matter” (materia prima). It was during this period that alchemy became heavily mixed with philosophy.

In their constant search for this almighty "stone", alchemists studied all kinds of natural and chemical elements, conducted experiments and synthesized new substances and alloys, creating a solid basis for the emergence of chemistry, pharmacology and metallurgy.

What was the result of the search?

Many European geniuses sought to find this unique element, among them were Roger Boyle - the progenitor of chemistry, Johann Conrad Dippel, who became the prototype of Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's novel, and even Isaac Newton himself, whose secret passion for alchemy is widely known today.

However, long before Newton, the French scribe, notary, philanthropist and alchemist Nicolas Flamel allegedly revealed the secret of the philosopher's stone. An ancient Jewish book with Kabbalistic mysteries ended up in his bookstore, for the translation of which Flamel went to Spain, after which rumors spread about the creation of a magical element by the alchemist. Incredible long life Flamel and his wife and their sudden wealth only contributed to the spread of these rumors.

Nicolas Flamel is well known to fans of the Harry Potter novels. In the first book of the series, JK Rowling mentions Flamel and his successful discovery - the book was published under the title “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”.